TX BIOS:  Mrs. Amelia Steward Christoffer
   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
   Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
   
   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
   For more information about this text and this American Memory
   collection, refer to accompanying matter.
   
   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
   Congress.Copyright status not determined.
   
   00011
   
   FOLKLORE.
   
   Miss Effie Cowan, P.W.
   
   McLennan County, Texas,
   
   District 8.
   
   NO. words 1875.
   
   File NO. 240.
   
   Page NO. 1.
   
   No of Words.
   
   Reference.
   
   Interview with Mrs Amelia Steward Christoffer, White Pioneer, R.F.D.
   Mart, Texas.
   
   "I was born in the province of Possen, Prussia (which was later a part
   of Germany) in the year 1850. I lived with my parents at this place
   until I came to Texas with some immigrants from Prussia when I was
   twenty years of age. We came in a sail boat and we were from March
   until in May on the trip. I found work on reaching the Texas port of
   Galveston and in the year 1872 my father and his family came and
   joined me in Galveston.
   
   "In January 1873 I married Rhiner Christoffer who was on the same boat
   that I came over on and whom I later met, but did not know him before
   I left the old country. We lived four years in Galveston, then moved
   to Texas City and lived nine years. We were engaged here in farming
   and livestock business and when we sent our produce to Galveston to
   the market we took it in a sail boat, everybody had their sailboats
   just like they have their automobiles now. There were only two [DEL:
   erman :DEL] German families in Texas City, but we were happy in our
   new country and had the future to / look forward to.
   
   "We moved to the community where I now live about the year [?], and
   came by way of Houston, then by way of [DEL: empstead :DEL] Hempstead
   thro' the Navasota river bottom, thro' the old towns of Marquez and
   Grosbeck and the Tehuacana Hills , which was the home of the Tehuacana
   Indians in the [DEL: earlu :DEL] early days of Texas. Thence on to the
   prairie country between the 00022towns of Grosbeck and Waco. The
   community we moved to was called the Kirk and Victoria [DEL: communit
   es :DEL] communities. We settled on the Brown ranch and my husband
   looked after it for Mr Brown until it was divided into farms and sold.
   We bought our farm from him and just stayed on to the present day. The
   country was thinly settled and our houses were poor and open. We went
   to Waco and Grosbeck for our supplies. At first we did not raise any
   cotton, just grain and fruit, vegetables and our live-stock.
   
   "Before this ranch was cut up into farms, Mr Brown had red barns all
   over it to keep his feed for his stock in the winter when the grass
   was gone. Then we had better houses to live in also. When the
   round-ups on the ranch were on, it took all the men on the ranch and
   sometimes from the adjoining ranches. They would take two or three
   days to get the herd rounded up and then they had to be held together
   until they were driven to the train to be shipped to the market up
   north. The cow-boys would ride around the herd day and night and to
   keep the herd quiet they would sing the cowboy songs, this had a
   soothing effect on the herds, and they seldom had a stampede. When the
   herd became frightened this was when they would stampede and run in
   every direction, then the round-up was all to do over again.
   
   "The Texas grass was in abundance and the range was sufficient for the
   cattle until the winter months. The priarie was beautiful in the
   spring with its coat of wild flowers, such as we had never seen
   before, and the life on the ranch was full of interest and excitement
   as we had plenty to keep us busy. I am reminded of the cowboy song of
   the 00033Grass of Uncle Sam","Now people of the eastern towns, its
   little that you know,About the western prairies, where the beef you
   eat does grow;Where the horses they run wild, with the mountain sheep
   and ram;And the cowboy sleeps contented, on the grass of Uncle Sam".
   
   "When they had the last round-up on the Brown ranch, Mr Brown, who
   lived in Calvert Texas came up to see to it. There were between a
   thousand and fifteen hundred head of cattle. This was in the spring of
   1894. Most of the men in the community helped in this last roundup
   [DEL: r rown :DEL] Mr Brown stayed untill they were loaded on the
   train at Grosbeck to be shipped up North, then he went to his home in
   Calvert and committed suicide. Whether it was despondency over the
   last of the herd being gone or whether he was sick, no one knew, it
   was a shock to the whole community.
   
   "After this , his son Bob came to look after the business until it was
   sold off into farms. This was about the year 1896. To the north
   extending clear across, was the Smyth ranch, which belonged to the
   father of the Smyth brothers, Alva, Lee, Dr Tom and Dr Ed, the first
   two are deceased, but the latter ones still are living, [DEL: D :DEL]
   Dr Ed lives in Mart. There were several girls in this family also,
   they first lived at old Springfield, but later moved to Mexia. Most of
   this ranch is still owned by the Smyth family.
   
   "Some of the first settlers of this community, now known as the
   Victoria community with their families were, W. R. Williams, Cave
   Johnson 00044"Other names of the first families were Boman, Kahler,
   Hardwick, Vickers Drinkard, Dyer and Fogity. Some of the first
   ministers were, Baptist-Brother Jennings and Tatum. The Methodist were
   Lemmon, Mcglaughlin, Moon, Maxwell. The names of the first teachers
   were Adkins, Adams, McJunkin, Laird, this was at Kirk school where we
   first sent our children to school. Later on the Victoria school was
   organized and Miss Ollie Pearce was the first teacher.
   
   "Then the Victoria church was organized and Brother Tatum and Grundy
   were the first Baptist ministers. Brother's Moon and Davis the first
   Methodist ministers. There was a preacher named Parker whom they
   called a Campbellite in those days, now the name of this church is
   called, "The Church of Christ, all of you I'm sure understand the
   difference mostly is in the music in their way of carrying on their
   services. They do not believe in any musical instruments and try to
   carry on their services as near like the apostles in the Bible days as
   they could. This man held some very sucessful meetings.
   
   "For the public travel there was a stage line in the early days from
   "Old Springfield" to Waco. The stop between Springfield and Waco was
   called "Midway", being midway between the two towns. This stage stop
   was located on the old Vickers Farm , now known as the Corley farm.
   This was known as the old Waco and Springfield road and passed between
   the Drinkard farm and our house.
   
   "The stage station was one big room made from cedar logs and would
   hold as many as six horses. They were kept here to change for fresh
   horses. The fresh horses were brought, and by the time they were
   00055changed the driver would call "All [DEL: eady :DEL] ready " and
   away they went. The stage waited for no one, if anybody wanted to stop
   over they took the next stage. If a traveller were taking a long trip
   they often stopped at some town and waited for the next stage.
   
   "When we first came to Texas stage travel was at its height of
   usefulness. There were several long routes for hundreds of miles which
   reached the distant towns and military posts. Very few railroads had
   been built and the stage drivers, soon to be gone , were seeing their
   best days. They were heroes in their way, an important factor in the
   settling of the country. There were many stories in those days of the
   different stage lines. One was of the Overland Trail from Little Rock
   Arkansas, thro' Texas and across the continent to California which was
   marked along the way by rude stones bearing silent testimony of where
   some stage had been robbed and the driver killed. It was said that the
   drivers were often killed by robbers or Indians as he slept with his
   gun in his hand, as he rested by the corral or in the rude stable
   where the horse were kept.
   
   "On some of the lines there were the splendid "Concord Coaches", with
   four and six horses. Then the "Dirt wagons " and "jerkies " in the
   less thickly settled routes. The stage driver in those days would have
   [DEL: look :DEL] looked with contempt on the vehicles that now remain
   to supply remote places, untouched by a railroad or bus line.
   
   "But to return to our own little stage line, when it reached Waco it
   was a matter of great enjoyment to the people old and young , to see
   it start on its return trip. The driver would mount his box (from
   where he drove) 00066and gather the lines and the agent and his
   helpers would hold the horses heads while the travellers got on and
   the mail was being loaded. Then at a signal they would let go and the
   driver would pull out in a dead run. The spirit of adventure was there
   the same as it is now in the air ship. Who knew but what the
   desperadoes would hold up the coach, or if it would reach its
   destination in / safety from the Indians, floods or robbers?
   
   "When we came to this part of the state we came by wagon train from
   Texas City to our present home. The trip had a wonderful interest to
   us. We never wearied of the life in the open air which gave us such
   fine health. We had breakfast around three in the mornings, after
   which the wagons were ready with its occupants, the horses saddled for
   those riding, and at early dawn we were on the road. The beauty of the
   morning in this climate must be experienced to be realized. No fog as
   in the coast country, which hangs over the landscape, no wet grass to
   chill thro' and give you symptoms of rheumatism or ague, but the
   morning fresh and invigorating, as the sun bursts on the horizen in
   its blaze of glory, gives one the desire to be up and catch a glimpse
   of this beauty and a breath of the freshness of its pure air before
   the heat of the noon day sun.
   
   "Close to the end of our journey up the fertile Navasota river country
   the little city of Grosbeck was our last stop / before we reached our
   destination, which was to be our future home, midway between Old
   Springfield and Waco / Texas. The country was rapidly recovering from
   the effect of the Reconstruction days, the after effect of the War
   between the States 00077and many new home seekers were coming to our
   part of the country. [DEL: he :DEL] The advantages of soil and climate
   were being advertised through out the old states and many were seeking
   new fortunes here.
   
   "We began to raise cotton in the year 1886 on the prairie, the people
   thought at first [DEL: th :DEL] that it would not grow on the [DEL:
   prair :DEL] praire's, and so for years the section where the cotton
   was raised in this country was in the bottoms near the rivers. We
   first tried the small patches and as they did well, we then planted
   larger acreage. We took it to Kirk and Prairie Hill to be ginned, Tom
   Johnson had a gin at Kirk and a [DEL: r ampkin :DEL] Mr Lampkin at
   Prairie Hill. The first gin at Victoria was built by Henry Blake and
   John Mitchell. This was built on the Morgan,- Coker place, but was
   later moved to its present site, near my home.
   
   "When the men had to go to court they went to Grosbeck in [DEL:
   Limeston :DEL] Limestone County. A distance of twenty miles. [DEL: ne
   :DEL] One of the judges who was on the bench so long was Judge Kirvin,
   who [DEL: fterward :DEL] afterward went to Congress. Then there was
   Judge Cobb who was so solemn that it was said he was never known to
   smile. One of the first doctors who came to the Kirk and Victoria
   communities was Dr Briscoe, who served us long and faithfully.
   
   "My husband died in 1902. We had eight children, one, Fred, is now
   deceased. Those living are Lizzie, Annie, Rhiner, Katie, Betty,
   Lillie, & Oscar. Fred married Vida Deadman, Lizzie married Wiley
   Mitchell, and lives in the old home location. Annie married Elmer
   Deadman and lives at Lomesa Texas. Betty married Steve Collins, who is
   the secretary of the Mart Chamber of Commerce. Mart, Texas.
   00088"Lillie married Ernest Vickers, Katie married Charlie Mitchell
   and lives at the town of Dawson, Texas. Oscar became a doctor, married
   a Miss Kelly and is practicing medicine at Mexia. Rhiner has never
   married and [has?] remained with me and cared for me since the death
   of my husband in 1902.
   
   "It is a long way back to the days of my girlhood in Prussia, and
   dreaming of the new country "America", the reality is better than the
   dream. I am rich in the blessing of my home and family. This has
   become my own country, but it does not mean that I have forgotten the
   other country or the other friends and relatives, but always in my
   heart there is the echo of the farewell in our German language.
   
   "Aufs Weidersehen".
   
   ('Till we meet again).

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